School counselors can design a long-term, comprehensive drug use intervention program by combining elements from their discipline's knowledge base. They may formulate a community-based intervention team, work with the team and school officials to restructure school policy, design specific interventions, collect data on at-risk students, and…

Crisis in the context of a school has many unique features related to the social structure and sense of community within schools. A school crisis exposes children and staff to threat, loss, and trauma that undermine the safety and stability of the entire school. Crisis intervention has as its explicit aim the goal of providing immediate support to…

A therapeutic technique for dealing with a chronic caller to a suicide prevention center was tested. The two objectives to such a technique were to reduce the frequency of calls made by chronic callers to the suicide prevention service, and to persuade callers to be more specific when discussing their problem. To accomplish these objectives, a…

This fact sheet, newly revised and updated since the attacks of September 11th, aims to share what is known about the impact of violence and disasters on children and to suggest steps to minimize long-term emotional harm. Trauma is defined to include emotional as well as physical experiences and injuries. It is noted that even secondhand exposure…

Crisis intervention procedures can potentially conflict with students' right to privacy as defined by law and American School Counselor Association ethical standards. Principals are encouraged to work with their counseling staff and other pupil personnel workers to explore ethically appropriate means to serve students in crisis without violating…

Administrators can prepare for crisis situations by conducting safety assessments at all schools and district facilities, involving community resources, updating district and school discipline and crisis-communication plans, establishing a crisis-intervention team, providing staff training, establishing "suspicious behavior" reporting procedures,…

Crisis events may be viewed as expected, sudden, or catastrophic. Survivors have common needs: recognition of loss, soothing of fear, a sense of what happened, expression of feelings, assistance with adjustment, shared closure rituals, and ways to remember. Schools' crisis-response plans should include intervention and postintervention activities…

Reports on the findings of a comparative multisite evaluation conducted to examine the relative effectiveness of different approaches. Intervention systems represented a range of court-referral procedures, program duration, and additional services. There was no significant difference in the reassault rate, portion of men making threats, and victim…

The first national toll free suicide crisis line for South Africa was launched in October 2003 with the aim of providing a service dedicated to the prevention of suicide in this country. The intervention was motivated by South Africa's suicide rate which had risen higher than the global suicide rate, with the majority of attempted suicides…

Analysis of questionnaires completed by mothers (N=60) of mentally retarded children indicated that characteristics of the child and the family's crisis-meeting resources were significant predictors of various forms of stress. (Author/DB)

As violence and suicide increase in our society, educators are helping students, staff members, and families cope with the sudden loss of a peer or child. Pragmatic intervention strategies can help survivors deal with their reactions to sudden death and posttraumatic stress disorders. Counseling techniques are also outlined. (MLH)

Provides survey findings from 54 adolescent hotlines, and presents an organizational case study of an existing peer listening phone program. A brief discussion of the role of professionals is also explored in relation to the use of adolescent volunteers. The case study suggests that volunteering is beneficial to both customers and adolescent…

A districtwide school safety project implemented in Saginaw, Michigan, in 1990-91, the third year of its operation, is evaluated in this report. The project is evaluated on the basis of the following objectives: employment and training of home-school liaison officers; establishment of an advisory council; development and implementation of…

This article explores indicators which will reveal if organizations are ready to deal with the change implied in undertaking a quality circle (QC) program. It discusses characteristics of successful QC programs and lists readiness indicators which include internal project staffing, openness from management, time commitment, and financial…

A shift from the traditional individual student-therapist relationship to the student-family-therapist triad is expected to occur with increasing enrollment of older students. Within a limited number of sessions, focus on the family is appropriate for assessment and therapeutic reasons. (JN)